


Flash of Ecstasy

by Artemisia



Category: The Originals (TV), The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-05
Updated: 2019-08-18
Packaged: 2019-08-19 09:21:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 31
Words: 12,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16531796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Artemisia/pseuds/Artemisia
Summary: Collection of shorts as I write them.Things that are too short to stand on their own.





	1. Jack the Ripper

**Author's Note:**

> Ratings may vary. I will include notes as necessary.

It was quiet in the Salvetor Boarding house for once. Everyone is absorbed with pouring through grimoires and every other resource they can think of, desperately combing for a solution to their Silias problem. Even Klaus seemed absorbed in the task at hand, though Caroline swore he was more the type to delegate. Though perhaps he adhered to the old adage of doing something yourself if you want it done right. She certainly did.

Damon had been kicked out to update the Sheriff. And to keep another fight from brewing between him and Klaus truth be told. The Hybrid looked more and more like he would enjoy feeding Damon his own tongue before killing him. Well no one could accuse Damon of having an overdeveloped sense of self preservation. Caroline flipped back through her notes. She hopes no one notices how distracted she is, but given the state of her luck the past couple of years she wouldn’t put money on it.

“What’s on your mind love?”

Shit. It had to be him who noticed. See state of her luck.

“Because it’s obviously not the task at hand.”

“You’re right Klaus. I can’t concentrate.” At her use of his name he had allowed a smirk to appear. She bites back a grimace, covering it by setting her current grimoire on the table in front of her. “I have to know. Which one of you is Jack the Ripper?”

Klaus doesn’t even try to suppress his sounds of mirth. “None of us sweetheart. Finn and Kol were daggered. Rebekah, Elijah, and I were living in New Orleans at the time. Always thought it was a witch who practiced sacrificial magic myself.”

As a distraction it worked pretty well. Everyone had an opinion and everyone wanted to know what Klaus and Stefan had knew, even if they hadn’t been in London at the time. It was a nice, safe topic for a break for everyone. The last time their group had discussed this was before the supernatural had come to stay, which meant they had entirely new avenues to consider. Normally Caroline would have sat back and congratulated herself on a job well done, if it hadn’t been for the knowing blue eyes that kept drifting back to her. There was no way she was going to admit that her own thoughts had been preoccupied with a certain original hybrid.


	2. France Already

Caroline was in France. Nice, not Paris. A trip for the school. Jet lag is a bitch, even if you’re a vampire. She needed a drink. She slips into a seat at a bar, chosen mostly because it was there, and only slightly because she can hear the too slow beat of another vampire heart.

“What can I get for you?”

She surprised by the English. Her head jerks up and she looks into the bartender's eyes, they widen slightly, realizing this is the other vampire.

“You’re not from around here, so you get English. What can I get you?”

Caroline is tempted to order scotch, but it’s France. She orders a glass of a local wine. As the bartender works she watches. Elegant and precise, the grace that only vampires seem to carry. It’s only when the other sets the glass down in front of her does realize what has been so off putting. The other vampire isn’t wearing any jewelry, no rings, no bracelets. Nothing that could be a daylight ring so how?

The vampire winks. “Later. When it’s quiet.”

She waits. Drinks another couple glasses of wine. It’s before the dinner rush, but after the lunch crowd when the place is nearly empty. The bartender slides over and hands her another glass of wine. “You’re Caroline Forbes right? You run that school in America.”

“Yes. You’re a vampire? But how do you not have a daylight ring?”

The woman smiles. “I was worried about the risk of losing ring or a bracelet.” She flicks her long hair back over her shoulder, drawing attention to her ears, a series of hoops decorating them, each with a small hoop and a flash of blue. “So I replaced my old helix jewelry with something a bit more practical.”

Caroline smiles. “Thank you. It was rude of me.”

The bartender shrugs. “I’ve only been a vampire for about a decade. I find it’s easier to explain when older vampires come around asking questions.”

Anything further is cut off by the ring of Caroline’s phone. The ringtone is one of her special ones. Why would Rebeka be calling her? With a regretful smile, she hands over enough cash to cover the wine and slips out to take the call.

“Hello Rebekah...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are other vampires out there. I wanted Caroline to run into one.  
> I also enjoy less traditional piercings and figured that a smart vampire would try and get a daylight amulet that was a little less conspicuous.


	3. Forever Longer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Graduation Scene - What was running through Klaus's mind the moment he kissed Caroline.

“He’s your first love. I intend to be your last-  
-However long it takes.”

For him the moment he draws his lips away from her skin lasts for an eternity and he wishes it could have lasted forever longer. It’s the first time he’s kissed her. At least the first time he’s kissed her in his body. He decides he is going not to count the time in Tyler’s body when she kissed him, because really she had been kissing Tyler. The brush of his lips across her cheek stuns him, almost as much as he suspects it stuns her. 

Intimacy and a tendril of sweetness that clings to the action. It’s then that the Original Hybrid falls away and leaving only the man. A man in love with a woman. It’s not that they haven’t had moments before. Twice he’s allowed her to drink from his vein, which some would say were a greater form of intimacy. But a first kiss is special, even if it is not on the lips. Maybe especially because it’s not on the lips in their case.

He pulls back slowly, drawing out the moment. His gaze is fixed on the wide eyes of the captivating baby vampire before him. He’s meant every word he’s said. He’ll wait for her. He can afford to wait. A year, a century. When her thing with Tyler dies a natural death. When a small town boy and a small town life aren’t enough. When she turns up on his doorstep, he’ll lay the world at her feet. 

“Congratulations Caroline.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The kiss on the cheek in the graduation scene is the first time there is a kiss between Klaus and Caroline. Yes Caroline kissed Klaus when he was in Tyler's body, but that was Caroline kissing Tyler. I think Klaus would attach more significance to this moment as the first time he's kissed her.  
> I also don't think Klaus's allowing Tyler to return to Mystic Falls was really all that altruistic. By this point he has Tyler's measure. Klaus let Tyler return so that Tyler's actions could finish off the relationship between Tyler and Caroline. As long as Tyler and Caroline were apart they (Caroline) could rationalize everything away and continue to carry a torch.


	4. Power

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “When someone’s an asshole, being a bitch is self-preservation.”

“I can’t be your conscious Klaus. I can’t spend every day wondering that if I were to leave and not look back if there would be a massacre in my wake. That’s not a relationship, that’s emotional blackmail.”

She breaks his heart. He broke hers after all. 

There is good in him, but she can’t be the one to bring it out in him. He has to do that himself. She has her own scars. Matt. Damn. Her father. Tyler. Klaus. She’s been abused. Raped. Tortured. She grits her teeth. If he makes the choice to kill, and he will, the blood is not on her hands no matter what he says. She can’t fix him and she won’t believe she can. She’s not his North Star. 

“When someone’s an asshole, being a bitch is self-preservation.” 

He grabs her arm, pulling her back to him, and searching her eyes. She breaks away, stalking off with her head proud and high, confident in her power.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly sometimes parts of the fandom scare me, so I wrote a Caroline who walked away. I wanted Caroline to be secure enough that despite the abuse she has undergone (and most of her friends/boyfriends have legit abused her) she could walk away knowing her power. While I don't think Klaus abused her, I do think the potential is there if he let's his darker impulses rule.


	5. Apologies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A long overdue apology.

It’s late. Tyler stayed as long as he could, but his mother had called him home. Caroline lay in the dark. She debates closing the curtains against the moonlight. Sleep eludes her, even as exhaustion sets in. She’s alone in the house. Her mom got a call from work a little while ago. Sometimes she hates her mom’s job. Okay a lot of the time. 

Her phone chimes. Caroline reads the text as the front door opens. It’s from Bonnie. It reads simply. “Here.” Caroline tosses down her phone and rolls over, as Bonnie climbs the stares. 

“Caroline.” The other girl’s voice is barely beyond a whisper. “Your mom called me. She said something happened and she didn’t want you to be alone, but there was some emergency down at the station.”

The blonde vampire doesn’t say anything, considering, but in the end she flips the blanket on the other side of the bed open. She hears Bonnie set down her bag, toe off her shoes, and then she comes around the bed, climbing in to face her best friend. 

“What happened?”

Caroline shakes her head, torn between numbness and breaking. 

Bonnie opens her arms, and the blond lets herself be held. “Later then.” 

She’s almost asleep, exhaustion finally starting to win out, when Bonnie breaks the silence. “I’m sorry.”

There are so many ways for her to take that, but she’s too raw to take it anyway, but badly. Her eyes search her best friends in the light from the moon, through the open curtains. Some how she manages to croak out “For what?”

“For being such a bitch when you first turned.” 

“You weren’t...” The start of the denial was automatic. 

Bonnie shook her head, cutting her off. “No I was. I really, really was. About you turning. About your daylight ring. About vampires in general. I was judgmental. And mean for a long time. I don’t know what happened today, but it must have been bad. I should have apologized ages ago. I love you and I’m so so sorry.”

Caroline just stares at her, still wrapped in Bonnie’s arms. Bonnie just gives her a small, sad smile, and suddenly she’s just a school girl. She let’s herself cry, burying her head in her best friend’s shoulder. Finally she sleeps, fingers running gently through her hair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Caroline's friends are really terrible. Bonnie isn't bad when she gets over herself, but she seriously owes Caroline a lot of apologies.  
> This takes place just after The End of the Affair.


	6. Love and Lies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bonnie and Caroline talk just after the end of Season 8.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content Warning: Discussion of rape.

“I lied.”

“What do you mean you lied?”

It’s just her and Bonnie. Elena and Damon had left together. Alaric to check on the twins. They’re staring at the Salvatore crypt. The little snow globe sitting among everything else. 

“Caroline?”

“I wasn’t lying about loving Stefan. I will love him forever. But I still lied.” She rests her head on Bonnie’s shoulder. “I love Stefan, but I’m not in love with Stefan.”

She feels the other woman tense. She plows on needing to tell someone and as judgmental as Bonnie had been a teenager, she is unequivocally Caroline’s best friend. “He’s who I was supposed to want. He’s the guy that would have been human Caroline’s one true love. I’m not her anymore and I can’t go back to being her. I have to let go of her dreams.”

Bonnie’s hand comes up and she runs her fingers through her hair. “He loved you. You know what he told Elena.”

Caroline closes her eyes, tears pressing behind them again. “I know. That’s the problem. He told Elena. Not me. He was always going to put Elena and Damon before me.” 

She grabs the witch’s other hand and gives it a squeeze before her friend can say anything. They sitting there in silence, the afternoon moving into evening.

“Damon raped me.”

“What?!” Bonnie shoots up and looks down at her friend. The wheres, the whys, and other questions tumble out of her mouth, as she stares down at the blond vampire. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Caroline feels her lips quirk in a small, sad smile. “This is the first time I’ve admitted it to anybody. Really the first time I’ve admitted it to myself.”

She draws her knees up in front of her on the bench, wrapping her arms around them. Bonnie is struck by just how young her friend really is, despite the immortality being a vampire grants her.

“It was when I was human. Just after he got to town. I did sleep with him willingly the first night, but I woke up the next morning with his bite marks all over my neck and not in a good way. And then he wouldn’t let me leave and he compelled me and fed on me.”

“Oh my god.”

“There was a lot of other stuff during those few weeks. I didn’t remember until Katherine killed me.” She snorted. “Stefan knew something wasn’t right. Remember the dinner party? Damon compelled me right in front of him. I’m not sure if he knew about the sex, but I know he knows Damon was feeding on me. The fact that Stefan decided his brother deserved another life, when he has never even apologized to me, that’s what made me realize as much as I love Stefan, as much as I wanted to build a life with him, it was never going to work forever. He was always going to put his brother before himself and therefore put him before me. I deserve better then that.”

The blond vampire finds herself yanked up in a bone crushing hug. Bonnie is sobbing into her shoulder. Her smile is wet as she pets the other woman’s hair.

“I’m sorry I shouldn’t have told you”

“No. You you have told me years ago Caroline Forbes!” Her friend’s tone is a bit waterlogged, but strong as she cuts her off.

A small laugh. “Shouldn’t have told you like that. But promise me you won’t tell Elena. It’s not that it’s not important, but we’ve already been through so much. I’ve made my peace with it. He’s mortal now and I’m not. He and what he did are not going to haunt my immortality. I’m stronger then that now.”

“You just want me to keep this to myself?”

“Please. I’m okay. Being a vampire helps with the trauma. I’m not helpless anymore. I have a few more things to do around here. Things for me. Raise my girls. Start the school.”

“Then what?”

“Then I’ll live. For me.”

“I know that look Caroline Forbes. What aren’t you telling me?”

This laugh is actually happy and Caroline lights up, feeling a weight off her shoulder. “It’s a secret. And a promise. Maybe I’ll tell you some day. When you’re old and gray.”

Bonnie sticks her tongue out at her in retaliation. “OK I won’t tell Elana. And Damon may be one of my best friends, but so are you. So if you say you’re alright I believe you.”

The two link arms and go to leave. Caroline tosses one last lingering look at the assorted objects to they had brought to honor their fallen.

“Besides do you think I really would have let Damon use my wedding to the love of my life as a distraction? Even if it was to save the town.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have major issues with the ending of season 8, because in the end Damon basically gets off scott free and never has any real, lasting consequences to his actions. I also don't think Stefan was the love of Caroline's life because he continually made everyone else a priority over her and she deserves better.  
> Yes that was a hint at Klaus/Caroline in there. I'm ignoring most of The Originals for this one though.


	7. First Impression

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea why I wrote this or where it came from. I also played fast and loose with timelines. Why Bolivia I have honestly no idea, other then I thought South America would appeal to Kol.

Caroline and Davina’s first meeting was in short a disaster. And in all fairness it wasn’t really either of their faults. No the blame for this could be laid squarely at Kol’s feet. Caroline had been waiting for Bonnie, who had ducked into a small shop, and was admiring the Sucre Cathedral. Bolivia was the last place she had expected to run into someone she knew. So when Kol had grabbed her from behind with barely a “Hello lovely” the self defense lessons and years of cheerleading kicked in and Kol found himself thrown bodily across the street. It was just bad luck that had Davina emerging from the cathedral at the same moment, even as Bonnie stepped out of the shop, tucking her purchases into her tote. 

The years had given Davina plenty of practice with magic other then ancestral and causing an aneurysm was almost second nature. The blond vampire’s knees had buckled at the unexpected attack and she had collapsed in the middle of the sidewalk. Davina however was not expecting the quick concussive spell that had hit her, courtesy of the Bennett witch. It was only Kol’s vampire reflexes that kept her from impacting into the wall around the cathedral. 

That would have been the end of it. Kol whispering urgently in Davina’s ear, as Bonnie crouched defensively next to Caroline, who’s eyes widened when she realized exactly who had grabbed her. Would have been the end of it that is except for the fact that even in the late afternoon there were plenty of witnesses. The small blessing being that it appeared the fight had happened so fast no one had managed to pull out their cellphones to record it. A quick look and all four took off at a fast all be it human pace for the park around the corner. 

Once out of sight of anyone who had seen them, the two pairs stood glaring at each other, well at least until Kol started laughing.

“You! This is entirely your fault Kol. What were you thinking grabbing me like that? Scratch that you weren’t thinking!” 

“Don’t talk to my boyfriend like that! Who the hell are you anyways!”

“Oh like you have any right to talk bitch. You’re the one who started tossing magic around. Do you want people to know you’re a witch? Stay the hell away from my best friend.”

“She went after Kol!”

“He grabbed her first!”

“Did Klaus send you after me?” Directed at Kol who sobers and the two witches to shut up as they turned to stare at her. The question hung in the air. 

“No Caroline. Just a bit of time to ourselves. Away from family. So what brings you to Bolivia love? Last I heard you were playing mummy to a set of twins baby witches.”

“We’re on vacation. After everything that has happened we needed to get away. The twins are at home with Alaric. How are you so well informed about my life anyways?”

“Big family. Lots of gossips.”

“Whatever. You leave us alone and we’ll leave you alone. Deal?”  
“And here I was going to suggest dinner to catch up with old friends.”

Caroline gave him a plastic smile. “I’d rather starve, but thanks.”

Davina huffed. “Kol let’s go. I’m tired of her flirting with you.”

Much to her surprise Kol and Bonnie cracked up as Caroline’s jaw dropped. Kol pulled her to his chest. “Oh Davina Claire I do so love you. Caroline here just doesn’t like me. If you wanted to see her flirt we should have brought Nik.”

Davina’s look was one of pure disbelief. At least until Caroline regained control of her faculties. “Oh fuck off Mikaelson!” Then it turned into one of disgust. 

Blushing the blond vampire grabbed her friend and stormed away, before pausing and turning back. “If you tell Klaus I am here before my vacation ends I will end you Kol. Don’t think I won’t.” 

“I think you owe me an explanation Kol.” 

“Later love. Later. I know we said no family, but getting Nik down here might get both of us into his good graces for a while.” 

“Wait are you telling me Klaus likes her back?”

“Let’s go to dinner and I will tell you everything about Caroline Forbes, my brother, and the little town of Mystic Falls.” He shoots her a rakish grin and she’s pretty sure he’s cooking up some kind of mischief to make sure they run into the pair again. After he calls Klaus of course.


	8. Janus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warning for allusions of rape.

Katherine Pierce doesn’t do regret. At least that’s what she tells herself. But as she lies awake in her coerced bed, listening to Caroline in the other bed she wonders. Vampires don’t get nightmares. They’re the apex predator. They’re not prey. Caroline is having a nightmare. She’s still, unnaturally still. Compulsion still. And even with human ears, in the quiet of the night, Katherine can hear her mumbles. The nos, the stops, the pleas, begging, and a name. 

Katherine Pierce doesn’t remember, but Katerina Patrova does. She remembers a girl. A child for all she thought herself a woman grown at seventeen. She remembers a man who watched her. She remembers refusing. She remembers terror and pain. She remembers fear. She remember the hatred of her father when he discovered she was ruined. That she was pregnant. She remembers the daughter she never got to hold.

Katherine Pierce is a survivor. She survived her father’s hatred. She survived having her daughter stolen from her. She survived reinventing herself in the English court. She survived Klaus’s attempt to use her as his sacrifice. She survived five hundred years of running from the Original. Katherine Pierce has no room for regrets. She has no room for love. She has no room for weakness. Katerina Petrova was weak.

Katherine Pierce will never admit it, but she admires Caroline Forbes. A ball of sunshine in vampire form. Who loves desperately and with reckless abandon. Loyal to a fault and far to forgiving. The woman who is far stronger then the girl she smothered in a hospital bed. Even if she had intended the blond as a sacrifice to Klaus, she’s glad she turned her. Caught her forever at seventeen. Her eternity will be glorious. Katerina Petrova hates Katherine Pierce. She hates the recklessness of her choices. She hates her games. She hates how empty eternity is. 

Katerina Patrova regrets. In a dark dorm room, listening to the nightmare of a baby blond vampire, she regrets Regrets because she knows the pain. Knows what it is like to suffer for things you can not control. Choices not your own. To suffer in silence because who could you tell? Of shame, guilt, fear. For things that are not your fault, but are. The more the world changes, the more it stays the same. If Katerina Petrova were to number hers there are only two which twist in her core. She regrets the man who stole her innocence, and she regrets turning Damon Salvatore who stole Caroline’s. Katherine Pierce doesn’t do regret.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It struck me that we never learn the circumstances of how Katerina ended up pregnant. It's implied, because Katherine uses sex and sex appeal as a weapon both as a vampire and as a human in the English court, that it was just a part of her, but as we know Katherine is a survivor. So I imagined it being darker and it explains why in some of her darkest periods she turns to Caroline.


	9. Cruelty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cruelty is as much a part of her as her monster.

He’s the only one she can be cruel to. She doesn’t curb her tongue around him. Barbed words, dripping with sugar coated venom. The truth meant to wound. To him she is cruel. In thought, word, and deed. She is cruel. For the most part being a vampire has made her better, but cruelty and her capacity for it lies along her bones and under her skin. It keeps her monster company.

She can’t be cruel to Elena. No one can be cruel to Elena. Pretty little Elena who has lost so much and is oh so very fragile. She can’t be cruel to Damon, no matter how much he deserves it. Elena loves him so. Stefan who was kind as she learned her monster and who convinced Bonnie to give her back the sun and her life. Bonnie is her best friend, despite her judgment. She’s grown up after all. Matt’s only crime was being in love with Elena. Like most everyone else. She wont hurt her friends. She can’t be cruel Bill Forbes, despite the torture. He’s her father. Her mother. Liz Forbes is even more off limits. She was cruel enough to her when she was human. Tyler. Tyler who wounds her over and over again. Who loves and leaves her and then returns. She refuses to be cruel to him. Tyler whom she loves. They’re her friends. Her chosen family. Pieces slotted carefully into place, heedless of the sharp edges that cut her heart and bleed her dry. They are important to her. Their opinions matter to her. She can not be cruel to them. She swallows that cruelty with a smile.

Cruelty is as much a part of her as her monster. She can be cruel to him. She is cruel to him. Klaus. He’s had one thousand years, cruelty is not a new companion. The Original Hybrid. Her friends, her family hate him. He is a monster after all. Cruelty is excused, expected even. She reveals in it. In the darkest part of her soul. He smiles, dimples flashing as they go toe to toe. The baby vampire vs The Big Bad Wolf. As he lets her pour the vitriol that coats her bones, feeding her monster, into him. So she accepts his gifts and then throws them back in his face as the whim takes her. She dances with him, before leaving him on the floor alone. She plays with him as a woman does a man, only to walk away, head held high. He craves her friendship, but they can never be friends. If they were, she would have to give up the poisoned honesty between them. Not friends. Not enemies either. Lovers maybe some day. Unspoken paramours perhaps. But for now there is cruelty. They are connected. Even more so then he to his family or she to hers. The connection crackles between them. She’s cruel to him and every cruelty she inflicts on him is one she inflicts on herself.


	10. Joy

He promised her a thousand more birthdays. Caroline’s had that many and more. She’s seen civilizations rise and fall. Art, music, culture. Genuine beauty. She’s seen the world over, many times. She’s had friends, lovers, family. But now she walks alone. Her name is spoken with fear and aw the way his once was. A legend in her own right. 

Freya was never immortal and lived a mortal life with Keelin. They had passed within days of each other. Rebeka is long dead, though her mortal family thrives. Caroline ensures it. Nature correcting itself produced another white oak once upon a time and allowed Kol to follow his beloved Davina. Rumor has it Marcel is still alive, though Caroline has not seen him in nearly three centuries. Another walking legend. Her school thrives, though she hardly recognizes it from those early days. Aleric, Jeremy, both lived human lives and happily went when it was their time. Both had cheated death enough. Her girls beat the curse of their coven, but even then they could only expand their lives so long. Bonnie as well. Their lines were also under Caroline’s protection. Though at this point they had all come together and split enough times that it was only her meticulous personality that meant she could track them all.

It’s fitting she supposes that she goes this way. Third time’s the charm and this makes a hat trick of wolf bites for her. Hope is offering her blood. Caroline smiles and shakes her head, painful as it is. She had stopped in to visit the Hope, the present and past (and possibly future) head mistress of the Salvatore School. There had been an attack by a rouge wolf pack who claimed one of the students. Caroline and Hope had objected vehemently. The battle had been bloody, when they had attacked on the full moon. It hadn’t helped. They were dead now. The students safe. Though one had gotten lucky and managed to sink his teeth into the blond angel of death, right before she ripped him apart. 

She reaches up and cups Hope’s face. She hasn’t felt this weak in centuries, but it feels right. To go down in protection of the school that she loved. “It’s alright Hope. I’ve had a thousand birthdays. Seen genuine beauty. It’s all he promised me.” 

There is only one he between them. Caroline had been cresting her second century when Hope had come asking questions about her father. They were friends by the end of that trip. Student teacher long since been laid to rest and in many ways Hope had been her anchor over the centuries. But as much as she hated to leave Hope, Caroline was ready, past ready for the next step.

“I’m ready. It’s time.”

She knows when the hallucinations kick in. Watching all the people she’s loved and lost flicker across the face looking down above her, even as she knows she’s still cradled in Hope’s lap. She closes her eyes, feeling the other woman clutching her hand, and a brief sensation of lips against her fevered forehead. She smiles. She has no regrets. 

When she opens her eyes she’s in the Mystic Falls of her youth. One that hasn’t truly existed in centuries. It’s a perfect late summer day. Her favorite. She looks around, a little surprised she’s alone. 

“Hello Love.”

She smiles, refusing to look over her shoulder. “Who is this?”

“Ouch. Has it really been that long?”

“Klaus.”

Arms wrap around her, pulling her close, and a familiar scent washes over her, although it lacks the note of fresh blood. 

“Why are you here?” Her tone is playful. She’s had a millennium to come to terms with everything. 

“To keep a promise.”

She turns in the circle of his arms. “However long it takes?”

“Last love. However long it takes. Though I do admit you did take a bit longer then I initially planned for.”

Caroline laughs as Klaus smiles indulgently down at her. Her hands come to rest gently on his chest. He’s lighter here. Less burdened. Less crazy. No longer hunted. This might be joy she thinks. “Well you did promise me a thousand more birthdays. And genuine beauty.”

“That I did Caroline. That I did.” 

Then he’s kissing her and it’s everything she’s dreamed. She chases his lips as he pulls away. 

“Now love. We really have eternity truly this time. And I’m fairly certain your mother and daughters are fair chomping at the bit to get their hands on you. Not to mention the rest of your happy little group.”

He steps back and offers his hand. ‘Yes,’ Caroline decides as she puts her hand in his, ‘this is joy.’


	11. Mohs Scale

The bracelet is a game of one upmanship as much as it is a gift. Tyler’s quaint little charm bracelet had been around her wrist even as she lay dying from his bite. Little baubles to remind her why she chose him. Isn’t it ironic that the wolf gave her silver? A sign of their love done in poison. Though he suspects it’s only sterling silver. 

She deserved so much more. The pretty, baby vampire, who spit in his face even as she fought to live. Using the truth to keep him at bay, fire in her eyes, even as death crept in her veins. He debated rubies to match that fire or sapphires for her eyes, but no the hardness of her will and the brilliance of spirit meant there is only one stone that is right for this first courting gift. He runs his fingers over it. Fit for a princess. After all he had relieved a princess of it once upon a time. Smiling he closes the safe, slipping the bracelet into a velvet box. Elegantly wrought, Rococo period if he recalls correctly, diamonds in pure silver.

He hopes it makes her smile. He wonders if she’ll understand. His intent. His claim. His superiority. That he too is a potent poison.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh Klaus you are over dramatic in your soul. Can't just give a girl a gift, have to one up her current beau while you're at it. 
> 
> Also the Mohs Scale in the chapter title is the scale of how hard materials are. Diamonds are a 10 of 10.


	12. Study of Emotion

He flipped the switch in the past. They all have. They’re Originals after all, oldest vampires in existence. But, after coming back to himself, the experience leaves him unnerves him every time, so despite what his siblings think he’s kept his emotions on. Shoved them and his humanity into a nice tight, mental box and ignored them. Focuses on what is in front of him. Breaking his curse. Running from Mikael. Managing his siblings’ treachery. Protecting them from themselves. (Protecting himself a part whispers. He crushes it ruthlessly as he does his enemies.) It might be the most human thing about him. It’s not that he doesn’t feel. It’s that he feels too much. 

She drags all those feelings, his humanity, everything he’s buried and puts it on full display so that he has no choice, but to deal with it. He handles it, badly. Still he stayed. Tiny Mystic Falls normally wouldn’t be enough to keep him. He hates remaining still, even with Mikael is dead. Tiny Mystic Falls however has something nothing else in the world does. Caroline Forbes. He stays. 

For all she’s a vampire, Caroline is the most human person he has ever met. It’s not that she’s a baby, having turned little more then a year ago. Her light isn’t something as simple as not having left to her human life behind. Klaus had met plenty of baby vampires, some who clung to their human lives and some who ran from them. He’s almost sure she’s more human now then before she was turned, at least according to the things Stefan lets slip that first summer. Her friends don’t see it. Content to use her as bait and distraction, not seeing the loyalty in her bones and the steel in her spine. He craves her, so he lets himself be distracted. And then she’s dying again, this time by his bite. 

It’s the end. The runt she clings to must be taught. She will die and he will let her, though salvation runs through his veins. He stares unseeing, unable to look at her, even as he feels her eyes on him. Unburied truths spilling from her lips, dragged out of his soul. She calls it love. Her voice goes silent, as she is slipping away. Emotion crashes over him and in that moment he can’t not feel it. Klaus holds her close and lets love wash over him, as Caroline drinks life from his wrist. 

He shoves everything back down and walked away. Witches and plots in New Orleans. He has his family to protect. His daughter is born and hidden away. He strays back to Mystic Falls twice. Once for his promise and twice for her confession. Years later Stefan appears in his city. Chased by Rayna Cruz, having taken her sword for Damon, and Klaus can’t believe Ripper had been that stupid. It takes a backseat to his emotions and though he’d never admit it he considers the switch. His Caroline was a mother (regardless of what Ripper thought) of Alaric’s twins and was with Ripper. It’s her call that saves him. It’s her call that drags his humanity to the forefront, proving that the sound of her voice is enough. He lets her go. 

It’s not till after he has promised Stefan will be alright and the subsequent saving of said vampire, as they drive towards the stopgap Klaus has devised, that he finally has the chance to ask Stefan the one question that either answer might break him. “Do you love her?” (Tell him he made the right choice.) His answer was another question and Klaus wanted to kill him. As if what he felt for Caroline Forbes could be confined by mere feelings. A nonanswer and seriously contemplates killing Stefan when he admits to protecting Damon, not Caroline. He also considers killing Damon. Instead he tells Ripper to let her go. She deserves the world, to be the world. This can only end in her tears. 

He has no choice but to let it. Bound by promises kept. Promises he would keep, only for her. But he would wait. A year or a century and she would turn up at his door. Because as he had told her those years ago they were the same. In their very marrow they were the same. She may wear hers on her sleeve, even as he ruthlessly suppress his, but in the end it was not that they did not feel, but that they felt too much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not really happy with this. I think it was supposed to be a character study of Klaus and I'm not sure I've succeeded in that. I kind of lost what I was doing with it part way through. Partly because of my own emotional turmoil.   
> Happy Holidays everyone.


	13. Love

“No one will ever love you boy.” 

Caroline stumbled to her feet, blood coating her face from where Mikael had thrown her into the wall. The vampire who hunts vampires was circling his wife’s hated bastard son. The fight had been vicious, and only grew more so when Caroline had been dragged into.

“You’re wrong.” Her voice wavered, but didn’t crack.

“What did you say girl?” Hate and derision dripped off his tongue. 

She steadied herself and stepped forward with confidence she did not feel. “You’re wrong. You’re the one who doesn’t love Klaus. The only one.”

As she felt her back hit the wall, Caroline wondered how this man could consider himself such a great warrior when he was distracted by taunt from a girl a fraction of his age. She spits out “You’re an abusive monster and I’ll be glad when Klaus kills you.”

She slips to the floor when Mikael is ripped off of her. She thought headaches were a thing of the past, but her vision swam a little. She needs blood to heal. And then Klaus is there, offering his wrist. She bites as delicately as she can, letting the taste of him wash over her. She only takes enough to steady herself. Given the fight, he’ll also need to heal. Pulling away, she looks up into golden eyes. “Did you kill him?”

He shakes his head. “Mikael fled.”

“Damn.” 

His eyes search hers. “It’s the first time he’s ever run from me.”

Caroline is afraid her smile comes out as more of a grimace, but the hybrid is gently moving her blood soaked curls out of her face. He looks vulnerable. Just how had did she hit her head the second time to think that?

“Did you mean what you said?”

“What I said?”

He just continues to stare at her, not letting her drop her gaze.

“Yes.” It’s small and breathy. Barely out and he catches her lips with his. She kisses him back. This wasn’t how she had intended to tell him. She’s actually not sure she had intended to tell him. She wont deny the truth now that it’s said. Wouldn’t even if she could.

There is so much to figure out and Mikael still needs killing, but it can wait. Right now all that matters is the man in front of her, desperate for her love and to love her. The blonde baby vampire breaks the kiss. He pulls back reluctantly, looking for all the world like he wants to keep kissing her forever, but there is one more thing that needs to be done before they can resume.

“I love you.”


	14. Second Chances

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Of course Kol called Klaus  
> Sequel to First Impression (Chapter 7).

“He better not have called you Klaus.”

She’s standing in Plaza Bolívar in Caracas Venezuela; she and Bonnie having left Bolivia three days before, after having run into Kol and his little witch girlfriend Davina on the streets of Sucre. It had been a day after the youngest Mikaelson had managed to manipulate another run in which had included a meal. Despite the fact that there had not been any bloodshed or magic during said meal, both of the women from Virginia had decided that a change of plans was in order and an entirely different country. They hadn’t quite thrown a dart at a map but it had been close.

The Original hybrid just grinned, flashing dimples. “Kol’s trying to curry favor so I don’t kill the lovely Davina the next time she crosses me. Though he told me you were in Sucre. Venezuela is a far cry from Bolivia.”

Caroline grimaced, though she wasn’t sure which part it was a response to: Kol’s interference or the casual attitude towards murder. “So you followed me?”

He let’s out a chuckle. “Hardly love. Kol has a bit of an obsession with Simón Bolívar in the 1800s. Apparently they had a great week in Rome. He wanted to share that with Davina. He didn’t mention that when you had dinner?”

Her eyes are wary. “That doesn’t explain why you’re here. In Venezuela.”

“Not much of one for history sweetheart? Bolívar was born here in Caracas.”

“That would explain me running into Kol here. Still doesn’t explain you.”

“Kol always had the damnedest luck.”

She crossed her arms and waited. She had time. Bonnie was bonding with some of the local practitioners. They like most witches didn’t like Caroline or any vampire much, but they were willing to over look a Bennett’s friendship with one. Provided she behaved herself of course. The presence of a certain hybrid might make that promise a bit harder to keep. 

“A contact of Kol’s mentioned the arrival of an American witch and her vampire friend.”

Caroline scoffs. “And you took that as an invitation? We had a deal.”

“This is hardly Mystic Falls love.”

Rolling her eyes, Caroline turned on her heels, setting off on a rapid pace down the street. She was going to maim Kol the next time she saw him. (She wasn’t going to threaten to kill him even in her mind, given what had happened when he’d actually been killed.) She feels the his eyes following her, knowing the intensity she would see, belayed by a half smile. This isn’t over.


	15. Poison Gifts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Say what you will, they are impressive strategists." - Ester [The Originals S2E1 "Rebirth"]

Klaus turned the invitation over in his hand, finger gently tracing the corner. Caroline was graduating high school. Not that there really had been any question that she would. However such an occasion should be marked with a gift. He half toys with the idea of the bracelet, but he half expects she’d throw it back in his face -again- on principle. A ticket to New Orleans would end up shredded. 

He smirks. Distance from Mystic Falls had given him perspective. His pursuit of Caroline had been filled with many missteps, because the traits that drew him like a moth to a flame, were also the ones that made her reject him, for his way of accomplishing his goals. It had caused his hybrid and the blonde, baby vampire cleaved together, drawing out their relationship. The more he had interfered, the more she clung. Klaus had spoken the truth; a small town boy and a small town life would not hold her for long. She had eternity after all. 

Holding the invitation in his hand, Klaus remembered she was just a baby. A scant few human years and even fewer as a vampire. He would let time do what he could not, cleave the two apart. Letting Tyler return to Mystic Falls would be a poison pill. The younger hybrid’s bitterness would rot him from the inside out, driving Caroline away, even as the gesture would draw her too him. In hindsight, he suspected that had he never gifted Tyler with immortality, the two would never clung so hard.

It was decided then. Tucking the card stock away, Klaus went to pack. He had a graduation to attend and a gift to deliver. Time could only be his ally after all.


	16. Art History Present

“Carry, she looks just like you!” The girl grabbed her arm, squealing. Caroline smiled indulgently, internally wincing at the current iteration of the name she was going by. Nancy was a friend from the art history course she was currently indulging in and they had been sent to various museums and galleries through out the city to ‘get a real look at art’ according to her professor. He was a bit of a pretentious prick, especially about art from the early 21st century. Never mind that Caroline had lived through it and knew most of the trends he had pointed out were bullshit. What a difference a few centuries made.

She looked over at the painting Nancy was pointing out and her jaw dropped. Looked like her! That was her! Caroline stared and looked at the younger version of herself, draped in blue with a delicate diamond bracelet around her wrist. She stares out from the painting, pain and strength and just a hint of something else evident in her gaze, even as the other figure, her dance partner only has eyes for her. She never realized he had painted that moment. Had she every really been that young? (And yes she was quite aware of the irony of a vampire saying that.) How had he painted it? There had been no cameras present that night. Staring at it, she can see everyone, all of her friends and his family, in the painting along the edges. Tears prick the corner of her eyes, but before they can fall, she’s dragged forward towards the painting.

“Sweetheart,” Nancy reads from the plaque. “N.M. 2010-2011. Oil on Canvas. Discovered in 2157 this painting done by an artist known only as N.M. depicts two figures dancing, while others watch. Titled Sweetheart, which was written on the back of the canvas ... the artist’s signature is found worked into the flooring. It is the only known work by the N.M.” 

His is the only white bow tie, she notes, tuning out as Nancy continues to read. 

By her side Nancy giggled. “Can you imagine having the money lying around to buy it?”

“It’s for sale?”

“Yeah Carry. Wow you really tuned out didn’t you?” 

Caroline nodded. “I need to get some air. I’ll meet up with you at the next exhibit?”

“Sure girl. I can only image what it’s like to find your doppelganger in a painting!” 

She doesn’t notice how the blonde winces at the word doppelganger, and takes off for the next room. The moment she is alone, Caroline whips out her phone and has sent a text to one of her agents to buy the painting. She’s pretty sure it’s not a trap, but she’s also sure that the remaining Mikaelson family knows exactly where the painting is. But it’s her. Her and Klaus. That makes the painting her’s and like hell she’s letting anyone else have it!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I picture this occurring 3-4 centuries after the events of TVD.  
> And thank you to everyone who has been reading these snippits. First time I've broken 1k in hits.


	17. Smiles: The Call (Part 1)

Caroline nearly laughed herself sick the first time she met a vampire with a creepy collecting habit. She's in a small city in Albania of all places and had been drinking at a small bar which catered to the local vampire population. She had noticed him, a blonde stereotypical Viking type, the bevy of beautiful women around him, and the deference the rest showed him, but dismissed him; her attention firmly on the glass of raki in front of her.  
  
Intent on finding the bottom of her nth glass she ignored him when he settled heavily next to her at the bar. She can tell he's got at least a few centuries to him, old vampires just have that feel, but she's tangled with the nightmares of her kind, so she feels confident ignoring his advances. It takes nearly twenty minutes of her dismissing him when he finally loses what little temper he has and booms does she not know him? Not know the name Klaus Mikaelson?  
  
She freezes glass half way to her lips, and a smug look crosses the vampire's face. Caroline loses it, cackling like a mad woman. The glass lands heavily on the bar, but thankfully does not shatter when she slaps it down.

"Seriously? You must have a death wish if you're impersonating Klaus!"

A red flush rises up there other's need.

Drunkenly she presses on between laughs, "I mean the only thing you might have in common is being blond, but he doesn't fall into the dumb blond trope."

She wakes up from the broken neck chained to a bed frame, surprisingly sober and, after a quick check for her phone, seriously unimpressed. Pulling it out from her bra, she stares at that contact. Sighing, this was really not how she had intended to get back in contact, but he deserved to know what was going on here and the asshole had snapped her neck. Pushing the name she listened to it ring.

"Hello love. I wasn't expecting to hear from you anytime soon."

"Klaus. How do you feel about Albania this time of year?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this on mobile, so please let me know if you see any typos.  
> I really have no ideas where this came from other then there has to be a vampire it's there who had decided to play the boogie man. After all it's not like anyone has actually seen him right?


	18. Les Jeux Sont Faits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Based on the Originals scene in 1X08.

Caroline waltzed into the courtyard ignoring the tension. Dumbfounded Marcel's vampires let her pass. Rebeka's jaw dropped. "What the bloody hell are you doing here?"

Ignoring question and the assembled vampires, including Klaus, she picked up the coin. Caroline smiled at the self proclaimed King of New Orleans, poison dripping. Turning she made her way over to the Original Hybrid. "Try not to kill too many of them would you? It's a boy's nature to test their fathers after all." 

And then she was gone leaving a now grinning Klaus. The vampires loyal to Marcel barely held their ground. If they had thought Klaus Mikaelson scary before, they all wished they had never seen this expression

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forget I had written this, so you get it now.


	19. Legacies AU - Games

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Very minor spoiler warning for the latest Legacies episode (1x10). This based on the third AU.

She curled up against him, hating him. Caroline had thought she had hated him back in Mystic Falls, but that was nothing compared to now. Evil as he had been in going after her friends, it was nothing in comparison to Klaus without his humanity. He had started a war. New Orleans no longer stood, drowned in ash and blood, and the world once again acknowledge the supernatural walked along them. Which was entirely the reason she was here halfway around the planet instead of with her daughters. 

Klaus without his humanity hadn't cared about his promise or her responsibilities. He had wanted her and so he'd taken her. It amused him to take what most thought would be his emotional trigger, the key to his humanity, with him, even as the Triad hunted them. Of course being on the run with Klaus was unlike being on the run with anyone else, she acknowledged as the night sounds of the city drifted into their room.

"You're thinking too much again." A hand ran possessively down her back and she shivered, unwilling to examine why. "Wouldn't it be better to just turn it off?"

"Or maybe you should turn it back on and help me think of a way out of this mess?" 

She phrased it as a question, knowing that she had far less leeway than she had in Mystic Falls, but unwilling to not respond. Again. He allowed it as long as she did not challenge him in public. The chuckle he let out was tainted by it's sinister edge. 

"But we're having such fun sweetheart." The twist on the last word was mocking. It scrapped the rawness of her soul. He enjoyed keeping her here at his side like a pampered pet. Dragging her too and fro as he pleased. She ached for even just a word of her daughters, but contacting them would be too dangerous even if Klaus allowed it. 

She closed her eyes as the Original hybrid pulled her possessively into his embrace, leaving her sprawled across the naked expanse of his chest. He had not attempted to do more than sleep with her since her first refusal, but he viewed the prospect of sex with her a game. His lack of bed clothes simply another move. "Sweet Caroline. Perhaps tomorrow then."

The kiss, pressed into her curls, deceptive. As if just hours ago he hadn't killed a group of vampires who had annoyed him. He had dragged his thumb over her lips, leaving a bloody trail in its wake, and her monster fought her control. His smirk still burned in her mind, as he had dragged her into the shower with him.

Stubbornly she kept her eyes shut. Klaus with his humanity was evil, but he had goals, killing with a purpose selfish though it may be. Klaus without his humanity played games and killed on a whim. She's not entirely sure why he hasn't grown bored with this game and killed her yet. Except perhaps that would bring him to close to the emotions he no longer has. Sprawled across him, as is his preference, she hates him.


	20. Want

"I could keep you Caroline. In a golden cage, drowning in pleasure, but that's not how I want you. You will choose me though it may take a century or more." He chose her, now he waits for her to do the same.

"What exactly do you expect me to say to that? For god's sake Klaus. You can't threaten me and then a breath later tell me to choose you!"

Her eyes flash and chest heaves with anger. He tucks a golden curl behind her ear. "It's not a threat love. It's a promise."

He stares, eyes blown wide in the low light, black pupils nearly swallowing the iris. "You may hate me, but you also want me."

"That's beside the point! Just because I want something doesn't mean it's good for me!"

She's trembling; anger or fear it doesn't matter. "Or that I should have it."

"We're greedy monsters, sweetheart. You'll find eternity is awfully long time without want."

Mutely Caroline shakes her head. She wants him yes, but she can't allow herself to have him. His choice isn't a choice, backed by threats, no matter what he says. _Tyler_ her heart whispers, a painful reminder.

A slow smile, cruel, crosses his lips. Leaning in he brushes a feather light kiss across her lips. It's painfully sweet, burning her soul. A monster should not be capable of such a thing. Perhaps that is why it's cruel enough tears shimmer in her eyes. She refused too let them fall.

"Klaus." It's barely a breath.

"I'll see you in a century, Caroline."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Valentine's Day


	21. Delivery

"That must be the furniture!" Caroline calls back to Alaric at sound of the doorbell. Her smile is bright as she opens the door, only for it to fade as she realizes it's not the delivery she had been expecting.

"Can I help you?"

"Ms. Forbes?"

"Who's asking?" No one is supposed to know they're in Dallas.

"I'm Tim. Mr. Mikaelson's personal courier. This is for you. There's another couple in the car." A large box sits on the front stoop and then he's handing her a card. Baffled she takes it. There is no way she is letting a stranger into the house with the twins. Especially if said stranger is name dropping Klaus.

Tim smiles at her. "I'll just get the rest from the car then? I'll just put them here. He said you wouldn't want strangers in your new place." Whistling he turns to do just that.

Bemused Caroline flips open the card in her hands.

_Caroline,_  
_You never did tell me your position on hand me downs, but with two I thought you could use all you could get._  
 _-Klaus_  
 _P.S. Please let me know if you would like the chest as well._

She lets out a huff of disbelieving laughter. He really is impossible. She'll at least take a look at then. It might save her a shopping trip.


	22. Reason

They're drunk. Rip-roaring drunk. And it's beyond late. It feels like they haven't slept in days. Three girls, pretending they're women, laying on the living room floor and setting aside their burdens for one night.

It's only because they're drunk that Caroline even thinks the thought, never mind voices it. (Or at least that's what she tells herself.) "Do you think it's possible that Klaus couldn't love when he was cursed?"

Bonnie chokes on her drink, as Elena shrieks "What the hell Care?"

"I mean like what if when his mom surpressed his wolf she also surprised his ability to love?"

They're both looking at her, horrified.

"I mean think about it. Ester used Tatia's blood to bind him. Maybe using the blood of the woman he loved also surpressed his ability to love." 

"Eww no. Are you okay Caroline? Why are we even talking about Klaus? I thought the point of tonight was to forget." Bonnie took another seeing from her bottle.

If I didn't know better Care, I'd think you're looking for an excuse."

"I'm drunk El. You can't hold what where my drink brain goes against me!"

"Whatever. The less any of us think about Klaus the better in my mind."

Bonnie is quick to agree. Caroline shrugs not sure if either of the other two see it, and let's the topic move on something else. In the morning Bonnie and Elena will have forgotten. Caroline, however, will turn it over in her mind when she has a quiet minute. After all given Klaus's obsession it only makes sense that she examine it from every possible angle. He's a thousand years old. There must be a reason.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This actually started as an exploration of the theory and turned into Caroline being a little insecure. Woops. I may come back and revisit the theory because it intrigues me.


	23. If Wishes were Horses

Across the bottom he scrawls 'Thank you for your honesty' before he signs it. For just a moment he stares at the finished sketch of girl and horse, wondering if she'll guess. If she'll see. 

While he had drawn her as she was this evening, he has not drawing the carriage horse. The horse he's drawn has more delicate features, a wider blaze, and a patch of white just behind the eye. A beautiful match for a beautiful woman. It may have been over three hundred years, but he has never forgotten his favorite. The loss has never left him. Tonight he gives him to her. She would have loved his Theo. 

He smile, rolls the drawing, placing it in a velvety box. He had a gift to deliver.


	24. Choice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caroline makes her choice.

“Then stay! Just be the love of my life. Just love me more than you hate him.”

‘Choose me,’ her heart begs. ‘Prove love is stronger than hate. Be better than him. Put me first. He has.’ She wants to scream, but she can’t. Tyler has to make this choice. 

“I'm sorry, Care. I can't do that.”

He’s leaving and her heart cries out. 

“No. No. No! Don't you dare walk away from me! I swear to God, Tyler, if you take one more step, we are done, okay? No more surprises, no more excuses, no more chances. We are done.”

He takes one more step. Her big heart, the one he claimed to love so long ago, breaks. He doesn’t look back. She cries. Her love isn’t enough. She isn’t enough. Never enough. Not enough for her father. Not enough for her mother. Not enough for Bonnie. Not enough for Elena. Not enough for Stefan. Not enough for Matt. Now not enough for Tyler. 

Why is it the only one who has ever seen her as enough is the one person she can’t allow herself? 

 

“Would you give me the same choice?”

“What?”

“Were I to abandon my revenge against Katerina, would you offer me the same choice as Tyler?”

She’s not asking. Klaus is offering. For her. As no one else has ever done in her life. She wants to trust him, but her heart shies. She’s never the one. Never enough.

“Don't you have a dying girl to go punish for all of her sins?”

“I do, but I won't for you.”

His love for her out weights five hundred years of revenge.

“So you came all the way to Mystic Falls just to back off when I ask you to?”

“No. I came all the way to Mystic Falls to gloat over a corpse to be, as you so poetically put it, but I will leave minus the gloating in return for one small thing.”

“And what is that?”

“I want your confession.”

She kisses him and in a golden afternoon lets herself be enough. 

 

“But, you see the good in people.”

“You mean Klaus. Because I saw the good in Klaus.”

”Your words. Not mine.”

Still not enough. She's never enough. Enough.

“Your hybrid bite just killed someone and no one even batted an eye. I sleep with the wrong guy weeks ago and I don't hear the end of it. How is that fair?”

If she’s honest with herself (and he did like her honesty), she’s not even convinced he’s the wrong guy. Not for her. For her friends maybe, probably, but he’s the only one who has put her first. The only one for whom she’s been enough.

“I don't know, Care. Maybe people just expect more from you?”

She’s done. Tyler made his choice. She’s made hers. She chooses herself. He has no right. Fuck those bullshit patriarchal double standards.

“Why? Because ‘being good’ comes so easy to me? Well guess what, Tyler, it doesn't! I am a vampire. I have the same impulses as you. So I'm allowed to make some mistakes along the way. Yes, I slept with Klaus. But after you walked away from me. That was my choice and I'm living with it, and I don't need to be hearing about it every five seconds. So, just get over it or get out of my life, but I'm done feeling guilty.”

Caroline looks Tyler in the eye. She’s not enough for him. The ghost of Klaus stands between them. She is enough for him. It doesn’t matter. She chooses herself. She’s enough for herself.


	25. Smiles: Half a World Away (Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sequel to chapter The Call

So collector vampires suck. No longer laughing, Caroline grimaced as she was poked and prodded, being made up by several vampire attendants. All of whom are older than her. She doesn't mind a good fight, but she knows when physically she's beat.

She had managed to secret away her phone, currently on silent, between the mattress and the box spring of the bed she'd been chained too, though she's less worried about them finding it given the back up she's called. Maybe Klaus hadn't been there smartest play, but the more these vampires treated her like a doll, the less Caroline cared about the bloodshed likely to follow. Let's just say she'd worn lingerie that covered more than her current attire.

She's also starving. (Though not hungover. Yay vampire constitution.) Neck snaps always do that to her. Shortly after getting her message out and hiding her phone, the blond from the bar had strode into the room. He had let his eyes linger on her, as if she were a prize he had coveted. He had issues orders in a language she assumed was Albanian, reaching out to run a proprietary finger down her cheek. Self preservation kicked in before she could do something more stupid, like slap him, so Caroline settled for glaring. Klaus was good, but it would take even him time to get to this place half a world away. 

The impostor smirked. (No dimples.) "You will eat when you smile for me. Tonight."

He turned on his heel, issuing more orders, and Caroline had found herself dragged off to 'pampering'. Several others were receiving the same treatment. Discreetly she observed the room. The others were a mix of humans and (young) vampires, and disturbingly most seemed to be some shade of blonde, and even more than that all of them had a gold collar around her neck. Caroline was the only one chained. 

The girl in the next seat must have seen her glance down. When both their ‘prep teams’ stepped away for a moment, she hissed under her breath, “Klaus likes to collar us himself. They’re witchspelled.” 

Record scratch. Witchspelled? Bonnie could kick any spells ass, but she really didn’t want it to come to that. “I thought most witches hated vampires.”

The other girl smiled sadly, but said nothing further. 

Klaus better get his ass here yesterday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One am strikes again.  
> Also I'm pretty sure there is going to be another piece to this.


	26. Seven Deadly Sins

Caroline glared at the list. She really hated assigning Rebekah to lust; it was so stereotypical. It fit, but she didn't like the implications. She also wasn't happy with Elijah's and Finn's assignments. Finn only fit sloth in that he'd been daggered doing nothing for 900 years, which meant by process of elimination Elijah was left as greed.

But Klaus was wrath personified. Mikael's hate was ripped in his pride. Kol indulged in everything, a true glutton.

Staring at the list, Caroline turned her pen over and over in her fingers. 

She supposed one could make the argument that Ester was more envy than greed, but it had been her greed that had created the vampire race. But that would leave Elijah as greed, which might be more ill fitting than envy.

Feeling like the list was mocking her, Caroline flips the page to the next list. 

Of course she could assign one of the seven virtues to each Mikaelson. It wouldn't be that hard. No one was all bad right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Caroline's lists for the curious.  
> pride - Mikael  
> wrath - Klaus  
> greed - Ester  
> gluttony - Kol  
> lust - Rebekah  
> sloth - Finn  
> envy - Elijah
> 
> chastity - Finn  
> temperance - Mikael  
> charity - Rebekah  
> diligence - Elijah  
> patience - Klaus  
> kindness - Kol  
> humility - Ester


	27. Smiles: Fantastic (Part 3)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 3 after The Call and Half the World Away

Caroline grit her teeth. The knock off was talking at her in Albanian again. Nothing against the language, she's sure under other circumstances it would be lovely, but she doesn’t _speak_ Albanian and romance languages she did speak weren’t helpful. She’s also sure that what he’s saying is not socially appropriate based on the sympathetic looks she keeps getting.

She supposes that she should be counting her blessings that the self proclaimed ‘Klaus’ had decided to stay in his compound. She’s still wearing next to nothing and the impostor is impatient with her refusal to cooperate. He apparently had been serious about her smiling before letting her feed. It has been over twenty four hours since he snapped her neck, longer since she’s fed, and she’s having a hard time suppressing her monster. The collar he’d fastened around her neck at the beginning of the festivities the evening before just added insult to injury. She still wasn’t sure if it could do more then keep him tethered to where ever he wanted her, currently his side, and cause her to feel like she was having a brain aneurysm. (Really what was up with witches and aneurysms anyway?)  
  
Her phone is probably dead at this point. She’d been returned to the room she’d woken in the early hours of the morning, not all vampires having a daylight ring, and it had still been there. Low on battery she had texted Klaus what she could for an update, including a photo of her new accessory, before hiding it away again. Which she had finished just before her apparent roommates had stumbled in. They hadn’t responded to any of her attempts to make friends, just casting fearful glances towards the door. That’s when she found out she was unable to get past five paces of her bed before the pain kicked in.

It’s his fingers tracing the black veins of her monster that pull her back to the present. Apparently the memory of the pain is enough to snap her control at the moment.

“Now zemra, pretty as you are, smile for me and I’ll let you feed. Wouldn’t want you desiccating on us now would we?”

She bares her teeth in a sarcastic imitation of a smile. “I’d rather die of thirst, but thanks.”

“Really sweetheart recycling that old line?”

Curls flying, her head snaps to the other side of the room. Standing on the grand staircase is Klaus Mikaelson. Her Klaus. And despite his light tone, rage flickers in his eyes. He’s flanked by Rebekah, Elijah, a blonde she doesn’t recognize, and holy sweet mother of hell is that Kol?. They radiate danger.

The entire room is still as if an unneeded breath would shatter everything into shards.

“Yeah but this time I mean it.” It’s purposefully careless.

The vampire beside her growls, as he hauls her to her feet. “What have you done?”

“My name is Klaus Mikaelson.” Every head in the room turns to look at him before glancing back at the usurper upon the dais. A wicked smile crosses the hybrid’s face. “You’ve heard of me. Fantastic.”

Caroline smiles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am now grouping these pieces together under the title Smiles for ease of picking them out.


	28. Sympathy

Caroline glared. "You're telling me that in all of recorded history, no witch has ever come up with a sympathetic pregnancy spell?"

She didn't even wait for Klaus to confirm it. She was up and moving in an instant. (A very long instant. God she wanted her body back.)

"Where are you going sweetheart? Let me get you whatever you need."

The look she gave him had him hesitating.

"I am going to call Bonnie. You are going to stay here and pretend not to eavesdrop." 

With that Caroline walked away. (Well less walked and more waddled. Hey you try being pregnant with miracle twins.) She had a witch to consult.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Minor AU: Caroline still ends up pregnant with twins, but whose they are is up to you. Also who is going to get hit with this new spell to give them sympathy symptoms is also up to you.
> 
> On a more personal note, I just started a new job on Monday. Which I love, but it means that I will probably be writing and posting less frequently during the adjustment period.


	29. Bone of Contention

Keeping her face and tone strictly neutral, her eyes very specifically not following the leash held by one Original hybrid, Caroline took a deep breath, before pointing out “That’s not a dog Klaus.” 

Klaus smirked, glancing down at the hybrid, in wolf form, who managed to look like she’d rather be anywhere else. Though upon feeling Klaus’s look, her tail gave a quick ticktock. His gaze then shifted to the sign that proclaiming the Canine Charity Cleanse event. “But she is currently a canine. I’m not the one responsible for the alteration sweetheart.”

Sighing the blonde vampire thrust out her hand for the leash. She was not going to win this one and it’s not like she could let one of her unsuspecting classmates wash one of Klaus’s hybrids. He gently placed the end in her open palm, but shifted forward slightly to murmur in her ear “Don’t worry she wont bite.” 

The look she shot him was decidedly unimpressed, before she turned on her heel, the wolf following reluctantly. The smirk turned into a full blown grin as he heard Caroline inform the other hybrid that she most certainly didn’t like this anymore then they did and they could just get this over with as quickly as possibly. Getting to see Caroline in a bikini top and short, cutoff shorts was worth it.


	30. Truth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright so I know this one kind of sucks, but it's the first thing I've been able to write for a bit. So you get to see it.  
> It's my sad attempt to explore the theory of what if Klaus's ability to love had been bound with his werewolf side. But I don't think I quite captured the intellectual knowing he loves his family side vs the not feeling it.

He loves his family, his siblings. It’s the one truth he’s clung to desperately over the centuries. He loves them. It’s why he puts daggers in their chests and carts them around in boxes. To protect them, even from himself. Because, even if he knows he loves them in his head, his heart is an empty, aching thing. It’s been empty from the moment his curse was placed on him. Rebekah once accused him of being unable to love. She’ll never know how right she was. Bound away with his wolf, by the blood of the woman he thought he loved. 

It’s why he keeps Katherine running for five hundred years. Having part of himself locked away eats at him and werewolves aren’t known for their stellar control of their tempers. His siblings think his obsession steams from that. They all know that being a vampire heightens everything. And it does. His rage, his obsession, his passion. But his mother locked away the one thing that might have made eternity worth it. Fracturing himself and the bond between siblings. He never tells them the true reason he is so desperate to break his curse.

Then one thousand years later, five hundred years after he should have, he’s broken his curse. He spends two days as a wolf hunting, revealing, killing, studiously ignoring the avalanche in his chest. Turning back he can only smile as Elijah scolds him. He loves his brother. Loves him and has every intention of reuniting their family. Eventually. It’s himself he doesn’t trust. Better to keep them safe, while he adjusts to having his heart again. He practices with Stefan. The other vampire had been like another brother to him in the ‘20s and he likes to think that maybe part of him had loved him. By the end of the summer he wonders if maybe it wasn’t the curse. Maybe it was him. Perhaps the thing in his chest had been had been left to rot for too long. Perhaps it was better this way. (Love is a vampire’s greatest weakness after all.)

Klaus stared down at the young vampire glaring at him from her death bed. Her blue eyes flashed defiantly, even as the venom of his first hybrid coursing through her veins. “No, I’m dying.” 

The honesty burns him and there’s an unfamiliar feeling in his chest, like the tiniest flutter of a wing. He sits on the edge of bed, offering her the world. Great cities and art and music, genuine beauty. Offering something beyond himself. 

“I don't wanna die.”

Or maybe just himself. 

“Happy birthday Caroline.”


	31. Courting

She insisted on being courted. Six centuries ago they had decide to give ‘last love’ a go, after the two before that were spent dancing around each other, and to this day she insisted on being courted. 

Caroline Forbes had spent those two centuries growing into herself and she refused to be bit character in her own life ever again. So with Mystic Falls in her rear view mirror she had seen the world and then she had seen him. Perhaps truly seen Klaus Mikaelson. 

Marriage is a human institution, as fleeting as a human life (if it even lasts that long). This is something more. Forever. But just because it’s forever doesn’t mean he doesn’t have to work at it (and so does she). So they court. Relearning each other from the ground up. She sits for his portraits and he follows her lead as she wanders the streets of the world. Content with soft conversation and laughter.

Then there are nights like these, where they dress to the nines. (He always leaves her the perfect new dress.) The alcohol runs like water and her hand fits perfectly in his. They dance. Over the course of the night, the strictures of formal dance give way to him holding her close, an intimate sway; her cheek tucked against his chest. 

They’ll be here again someday. Circling in and out of domestic bliss. But through it all Caroline will on insist that Klaus continue to court her and he will, happily. She does the same. This is forever.


End file.
